Barry Schwabsky

Welcome New Yorkers to a world snow. Welcome twitter users, to the next 48 hours of New Yorkers talking about snow.

Thanks to everyone who donated to our year-end campaign. We’ve officially run out of 8×10 Bruce High Quality Prints, so a huge shout out to everyone who helped make that happen. Those who donated on the 31st also got tickets to our forthcoming benefit. We’re continuing that early bird sale, sans the prints, so pick up your tickets now.

Meanwhile, some news around the web.

Philanthropists are actually hiring PR firms to brag on their behalf about their role in a rigged market? A quote from an email critic Christian Viveros-Faune received recently, “In regular finance, if you have insider information about a stock, it is illegal to invest in that stock. In the art world, it is not only legal, it is done regularly. Peter Hort, along with his wife and family, are the people who create the insider information.” Anyway, Viveros-Faune is calling for market regulation. Already, I’ve read tweets from people who fear said regulation will soil the art. Good grief. [The Village Voice]

Benjamin Sutton is no fan of artist Jon R. Friedman’s official portrait of NYC’s former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, complaining that the painting is most notable for its “resolute mundaneness”. I disagree! Could their be a stranger mix of photographic realness and flattening of space? I do wonder, though, whether Mayor Bloomberg really has such short fingers. That would be notable indeed! [In the Air]

Barry Schwabsky does a good job of talking about both the art and the issues in “Come Together: Surviving Sandy”. Any reasonable review of this show has to mention that it takes place in Industry City, which has been busy forcing artists out of its buildings for the past year. [The Nation]

Talk at year-end gallery parties was all about where they would go for their vacation. Also, Jeffrey Deitch is opening a large space in Red Hook. [Artforum]

Tonight I’ll be awarding the “Paddy Johnson Prize” at A.I.R. Gallery to one lucky artist in their generations show. Come out to this. I’m kind of excited to have a prized named after me, so there’s that. But also, come on. You’re gonna be stuck at home tomorrow due to the snow, so you gotta get your art fix in now anyway. [A.I.R. Gallery]

Smarm gets a mention in Artforum. Smarm, according to Tom Scocca, (and paraphrased by Rhonda Lieberman) “is pious about shutting down discussion in the name of bogus “niceness.”” For the record, I am perfectly happy publishing smarm. I know that doesn’t sound great at the outset, but content farming seems to make many of us think that everything needs discussion. Not true. Sometimes debate merely legitimizes an insidious idea. Nobody needs that. [Artforum]

A celebritory New Years greeting over at Hyperallergic from Man Bartlett. [Hyperallergic]

The ArtCycle Discovers Prize finalists have been announced. This fall, the art consignment service experts over at ArtCycle invited MFA students across the city to submit their work to the ArtCycle Discovers Prize. Today, after going through over 100 entries, 7 finalists were chosen. The winner of first ArtCycle prize will win $1,000, and a prized spot in the ArtCycle roster of talent. The finalists are from Hunter, Columbia, Parsons, and Pratt. Each will have their work viewed by Barry Schwabsky, art critic for The Nation and co-editor of international reviews for Artforum, and a panel of judges as they select a winner from this select group.